ENGINEERING PROF TRAVELS TO TURKEY FOR PARTNERSHIPS

Oktay Baysal, associate dean of Old Dominion"College of Engineering and Technology, traveled to Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, recently to strengthen the college's relationships with Turkey's prominent universities and the Offices of Education within the nation's Department of Defense.

Funded through a grant, the visit was an outgrowth of the March 2002 meeting of the Association of Turkish American Scientists, at which Old Dominion President Roseann Runte was a speaker. At the meeting, Runte and Baysal and Runte discussed possible collaborations with several Turkish university presidents.

In Ankara, Baysal met with the president of Middle East Technical University as well as the heads of the Offices of Education within the Turkish Air Force and the Turkish Navy to explore collaborative educational and research activities. In Istanbul, Baysal visited the Air Force Institute for Advanced Aerospace Technologies and Istanbul Technical University.

At each location on his itinerary, Baysal conducted a seminars on the College of Engineering and Technology, including new opportunities in Modeling and Simulation made possible through initiatives like the Battle Lab as well as the College's collaborative efforts with the Naval Post Graduate School.

The College enjoys ongoing collaborations with Istanbul Technical University under an international MOU signed last year. Also, seven Turkish Air Force Officers enrolled in classes in the Department of Aerospace Engineering in January 2002, as part of a collaborative master's degree program developed by Baysal and created by the College of Engineering and Technology and Istanbul Technical University, seven Turkish Air Force Officers enrolled in classes in the Department of Aerospace Engineering in January 2002. Under the supervision of the Aerospace Engineering faculty, they are now conducting research for their master's theses.